Tottenham sweating on fitness of Hugo Lloris and Nacer Chadli ahead of trip to Manchester City

Cause for concern: Lloris will sit out tonight's clash with Armenia with a thigh injury Getty

Tottenham face an anxious wait over the fitness of Hugo Lloris and Nacer Chadli as they prepare to face champions Manchester City.

The pair have arguably been Spurs’ most influential players this season, with goalkeeper Lloris producing a number of superb performances and Chadli the club’s top scorer with four goals in seven matches.

But Lloris will miss France’s friendly in Armenia tonight due to a thigh injury, which also kept him out of the win over Portugal three days ago, while Chadli pulled out of Belgium’s 1-1 draw with Bosnia-Herzegovina in last night’s Euro 2016 qualifier shortly before the game, complaining of a hip injury.

French medics are optimistic that Lloris’s injury is not serious and coach Didier Deschamps said: “It’s going a lot better for Hugo but he won’t play against Armenia.”

Lloris trained alone yesterday as his colleagues prepared for the fixture. Chadli, meanwhile, was due to be assessed today ahead of his return to Tottenham’s Enfield training base.

Spurs conceded 11 goals in their two league matches against City last season, so they can ill afford to be without two of their key players for the trip to Etihad Stadium, where they were humiliated 6-0 last November.

Were Chadli to miss out, the favourite to replace him would be Andros Townsend, who scored for England in last week’s victory over San Marino. Aaron Lennon is another alternative but the winger is clearly out of favour with head coach Mauricio Pochettino, and Tottenham would be happy to sell him in January.

Chadli’s fellow Belgian, Jan Vertonghen, believes his team-mate is finally beginning to show his value for Spurs after joining from FC Twente for a fee of £7m in the summer of 2013.

“It’s great that he’s growing,” said the defender. “He’s a very good player and it’s a shame he couldn’t show what he is capable of last year, but now we’re seeing the real Nacer.”

Lloris will be examined when he returns to Spurs later this week but his improvement since sustaining the injury will give the club hope that he can be ready to face Manuel Pellegrini’s men.